I swallowed the pill.

It´s time for another update. I did walk yesterday from Astorga to Rabanal del Camino, 21.4km. I walked very slowly and I was pain free. It was a great day where I had some beautiful moments with myself anf finally connected to what I really came here to do. I decided to stop in every town along the way and write a little in my journal, that way I would not rush. It worked great! About two thirds of the way I met an Italian lady who has two months to do the camino and is leisurely walking along. She enjoyed my slow pace so we walked the last part together. And in the last town we had a break and a bite. My standard is Spanish "tortillas", which means potato omelette. I´m getting tired of them, but there is no great alternative. While we were sitting there we started talking to two French guys, Christian and Louis, who were also spending two months walking the camino, just doing twice the distance as Steffi. They started in Le Puy in France. Anyway, the good thing was that Christian, who spoke a bit of English, was really funny and he made us laugh so hard. He also understood my problem with my tendonitis and gave me some ibuprofen, 600mgs. Now I have them until the pharmacia opens again tomorrow. Then I can stock up again. We had a nice dinner together all four of us last night, and that was the end of my visit with Steffi, who sleeps in as long as possible every morning and does not walk very far or fast. This morning I saw the guys, and Christian looked like an astronaut in his white rain gear. I wished them bon camino as they walked by and I will not see them again either. That´s the Camino for you...My walk today was not as good as yesterday. First of all it was cold and pouring rain and I was frozen all morning, actually the whole time I walked. My foot was sore from very early on and I knew it meant trouble. I walked like a snail, but today that was not enough. I am glad I did walk though because today I got to Cruz de Ferro, one of the greatest symbols of the pilgrims´way to St James. It is a cross, by which people bring and leave a stone or another symbol of something they are ready to "leave behind". I paused, left my stone and thought about my puspose. I was pleased. It is a simple, but powerful, monument. At one point a bit later I stopped for some tea at this little place in the middle of nowhere where they served cookies and hot drinks. The lady wanted to check my hands and after noticing how cold they were she called a young man over. He spoke a little English and offered to put plastic bags over my hands. He told me it was the best way to keep the water out and the heat in. I was grateful for the offer and took him up on it. I looked pretty funny out there, but it did help and I was warmer. Because I walked so slowly, I could not get my temperature up from the walking. Double trouble! I knew this was not good and decided before I arrived in Acebo that I was done. I had some food (Spanish tortilla, surprise, surprise...) there and then I asked the lady in the bar to call for a taxi. I took it to Ponferrado, where I got a hotel room. After a long, hot shower I felt a little better. I needed to get away from the camino environment to relax and think straight. I don´t know if I will be able to walk any more, but for now I will take tomorrow off. After that it will be a day by day decision. In two days I will meet Marit whom I am supposed to walk the last part with. I would love to be in shape for that, but time will tell. Maybe I will have to come back another time to finish the walk from Leon to Santiago. I have been trying to figure out how to work with the concept mind over matter. There is a fine line between persistence and stupidity. I believe top athleetes are pretty good judges, but I´m not so sure that I am. However, though it was a tough pill to swallow, I do believe that it would have been stupidity for me to keep walking right now.